MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a measure that stigmatizes gay people and bans giving children any information about homosexuality.

The lower house of Russia's parliament unanimously passed the Kremlin-backed bill on June 11 and the upper house approved it last week.

The ban on "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values over Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church see as corrupting Russian youth and contributing to the protests against Putin's rule.

Hefty fines can now be imposed on those who provide information about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to minors or hold gay pride rallies.

The Kremlin announced Sunday that Putin has signed the legislation into law.

The estimated cost of cleaning up Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant has doubled to nearly 22 trillion yen ($190 billion), with decommissioning expenses expected to continue to increase, a government panel said Friday.

Foreign diplomatic missions in Myanmar urged its government on Friday to allow "full and unfettered" humanitarian access to troubled Rakhine state, where operations by aid agencies have been curtailed while the army carries out counterinsurgency operations.